My takeaway from reporting in Chelsea, Massachusetts, which has an infection rate 6x the state average: Social distancing was meaningless there. It's too crowded, and almost no one can afford not to work. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/25/us/coronavirus-chelsea-massachusetts.html?referringSource=articleShare

I heard of people who, if they were honest with their roommates about testing positive, were banished, or chose, to sleep in a) a freezing, unfinished, dirt-floored basement, on a piece of cardboard; b) an open-air porch, in freezing temperatures; c) a car.

I spoke to people who, on the other hand, tried to keep from infecting those they loved. Bent over backward. But the virus moved so quickly, from floor to floor, from room to room, almost like an electric current. "The air itself was contaminated," one woman told me.

I interviewed a woman w 1 child sick, 3 well. She did everything right. Nursed sick daughter in mask, deposited food and medications. Other kids remained safe. They were out of the woods. But you know how the story ends: A phone call. Mom, the caregiver/breadwinner, is now sick.

Side note: It is a shock to realize how many in this city are living w/o water, heat, sanitation. Officials call them "tenements," a term I thought vanished in the last century. "There is a global south within the US that is living in a different universe," @MariaBelenPower said.

One young woman, down to her last $100, said the virus was least of her fears. "I'm scared of getting sick. I'm scared of the economy. I'm scared of the unknown. I'm scared to not find a job. I'm scared to stay here. I'm scared if I go home, are things going to be worse there?"

One thing was for sure, she said: Plenty of people she knew, desperate for work or housing, were going to keep their sickness a secret. "People are going to deny that they had the virus, because of fear of rejection. There's going to be a lot of lying about it."